PLOVERS AND SANDPIPERS. 107 



saxifrages. The note of this bird during its sojourn 

 on our coasts is a shrill whit, but this is not very 

 frequently or persistently uttered. 



During winter the Sanderling is a great wanderer, 

 visiting parts of Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, 

 and South America, but in the breeding season its 

 range seems confined to the Arctic regions. But 

 very little is known of the nesting habits of the 

 Sanderling, and few of its eggs are in collections. 

 It is said to arrive at its Arctic haunts in May or 

 early June, as soon as the water is free from ice, 

 and the ground bare of snow. Its nesting haunts 

 are the barren grounds and tundras near, and the 

 beaches of, the Arctic Ocean. The nest is a mere 

 hollow, scantily lined with dry grass and leaves, 

 and the four eggs are buffish-olive in ground colour, 

 mottled and spotted with pale olive-brown and gray. 



KNOT. 



This species, the Tringa canutus of Linnaeus, 

 and most modern ornithologists, is another of the 

 Arctic migrants that pass the British coasts 

 regularly on their journeys, and linger here in much 

 smaller numbers over the winter. Camden, in 1 607, 

 appears to have been the first author to connect 

 the name of the Knot with King Canute, but much 

 difference of opinion exists as to the reason thereof. 

 Some authorities assert that it was in connection 

 with the story of that king upon the seashore ; 

 others, and perhaps with greater reason, because of 



